Heel-seat fitting machine



'March 24, s. DALLAS HEEL-SEAT FITTING MACHINE Fned July 25, 1940 2Sheets-Sheet 1 March 24, i942. w. s. DALLAS Y 2,277,076

HEEL- SEAT FITTING MACHINE lFiled July 25, 11.940 2 Sheets-'Sheet 2@VEA/TDH' Af/@W5 @ya Patented Mar. 24, 1942 UNITED STATES HEEL-SEATFITTING MACHINE William S. Dallas, Beverly, Mass., assignor to UnitedShoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J., a corporation of NewJersey Application July 25, 1940, Serial No. 347,450

4 Claims.

This invention relates to heel-seat Iitting machines and is illustratedas embodied in improved mechanism for quickly and effectivelypositioning in said machines shoes to be tted forheels of differentsizes and styles.

Shoe manufacturers have recently been called upon to apply various newtypes of heels to shoes and, accordingly, it is desirable thatcommercial heel-seat tting machines of the general type disclosed inUnited States Letters Patent No. 2,053,295,granted September 8, 1936, onan application led in the name of Fred L. MacKenzie, shall be equippedto trim the heel-seat portions of the attached soles of said shoes forthe reception of such heels. A spiral stop comprising part oi the workpositioning mechanism of the machine disclosed in said Letters Patenthas a throw of only slightly more than an inch, and in order to provideheel seats varying in length from 3A of an inch to 3 or more inches, ithas n been the practice to add extension blocks of different sizes tothe back gage of the machine in order properly to position the varioustypes of work, such, for example, as interlocking work, as

disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 25

2,170,842, granted August 29, 1939, on an application led in the name ofWilliam D. Thomas. Because of various mechanical considerations, it isundesirable to increase the pitch or the size of the spiral stop of themachine with a View to avoiding the use of the above-mentioned extensionblocks.

It is an object of the present invention to pro- Yvide in a heel-seatfitting machine of the type above mentioned, heel gaging and shoepositioning mechanism which will accommodate all types of work withouthaving to mount interchangeable extension blocks of various sizes andshapes upon the back gagecf the machine as above described.

With the above object in view and in accordance with a feature of thepresent invention, there is provided a stop, a heel measuring gagecomprising an abutment operatively connected to the stop, a movablemember, a back gage which V is adjustable with relation to said memberand is constructed and arranged to be engaged by the rear end of a shoeto position said shoe lengthwise in the machine, markings forselectively 1ocating the back gage in any one of several predeterminedpositions with relation to said member, and means comprising a pawl andrecess arrangement for securing the positioned back gage to said member,the back gage and the member being movable by the shoe until said mem-55 (Cl. liz-31.5) y

ber engages the stop, thereby positioning the shoe lengthwise in themachine in accordance with the length oi the heel in the heel measuringgage.

In the illustrative machine said movable member has the form of acarrier slide to which a block constituting said abutment portion ispivoted. The back gage is mounted upon the forward end of a back gageslide which may be secured in different adjusted positions along aguideway of the carrier slide. Pivotally mounted on the carrier slideare a pair of pawls one of which may be moved selectively into one of aplurality of recesses formed in the back gage slide when said back gageslide has been moved to a predetermined recognizable position along theguideway of the carrier slide. The proper setting of the back gage slidewith reference to the carrier slide may be readily determined by theoperator through the provision of a line or marking which is formed atthe upper surface of the back gageslide and may be moved into alinementwith any one of a plurality of lines or markings on the carrier slide,the arrangement being such that one of the pawls of the carrier slidefalls into one of the recesses of the back gage slide when the line onthe back gage slide is in alinement with one of the lines on the carrierslide.

With the above construction used in connection with interchangeable heelmeasuring and heelseat fitting mechanism which will be described later,the above machine may be used to t the heel seats of shoes for thereception of various types of heels having attaching faces of thelengths of which differ considerably, without having to apply dilerentextensions, such as above referred to, to the back gage.

n The various features of the invention will be understood andappreciated from the following detailed description read in connectionwith the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a perspective view,partly in section andvpartly broken away, of heel measuring and shoepositioning mechanism of an illustrative heel-seat fitting machine;

Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are detail views showing diierent portions of the shoepositioning mechanism;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view, partly broken away, gf modified gage formeasuring interlocking ee s;

Figs. 6 and 7 are detail views of mechanism through which a heel-seatreducing knife of lthe n illustrative machine isoperated; and

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the heel end of a shoe the heel-seatportion of the sole of which has been tted for the reception of a Louisheel by the illustrative machine.

The illustrative machine. is described with reference to tting theheel-seat portion (Fig. 1) of an attached sole 22 (Figs. 1 and 8) of ashoe 24 for the reception of a Louis heel 26, and comprises a heel gage28 (Fig. 1) for measuring the heel lengthwise, a crease plate 30 forsupporting the heel-seat portion 20 of the attached sole of the shoe,and means comprising a back gage 32 constructed and arranged to beengaged by the rear end of the shoe and movable rearwardly underpressure of the shoe until stopped by mechanism which will be describedlater, and which is set in accordance with the position of a movableabutment 34 of the heel gage.

The work supporting and trimming mechanism of the present machine, aswell as the major portion of the illustrative heel measuring and shoepositioning mechanism of said machine, is disclosed in said LettersPatent No. 2,053,295, which may be referred to for a completeunderstanding of the machine and its operation.

Preparatory to presenting the shoe to the machine, the Louis heel 26,for example, which is to be attached to the shoe 24, is placed uponatable 36 of the heel gage 28 with its breast in engagement with a bar38 which, as will appear later, when regular Cuban work is beingoperated upon, is swung into its dash line position shown in Fig. 1. Inplacing the Louis heel 26 upon the table 36, it is common practice rstto force the rear end of the heel against the movable abutment 34 of theheel gage, causing said abutment to move rearwardly until the heel canbe placed attaching face downward upon the table. The

heel is then released, thereby enabling the movable abutment 34,operated through mechanism which will be described later and is similarto mechanism described in said Letters Patent No. 2,053,295, to forcethe breast of the heel with considerable pressure against the bar 38.

The abutment 34 is adjustably secured to a slide 42, movable in aguideway 44 of the table 36, by a clamp screw 40 which is threaded intothe slide 42 and passes through a slot 4| in the abutment 34. In orderto facilitate adjusting the abutment 34 upon the slide 42, there isprovided a screw 43 which is threaded into the abutment and has a flangefitting in a slot 45 of the slide 42. operatively connected through aslot-andpin connection 46 to the slide 42 is a yoke 48 mounted upon afulcrum pin 50 secured by a screw 52 to a bracket 54 of the machineframe. The yoke 48 is constantly urged in a clockwise direction, asviewed in Fig. 1, by a spring 56 one end of which embraces a stud 58 onthe pin 50 and the other end of which embraces a stud 60 secured to theyoke, movement of the yoke in a clockwise direction when there is noheel in the heel gage being limited by a suitable stop.

The lower arm of the yoke has a geared segment 62 (Figs. 1 and 2)meshing with a pinion 64 (Fig. 2) which is mounted upon a fixed verticalfulcrum pin 66 and is secured to a spiral stop 68 which is mounted uponthe fulcrum pin and which, through the above-described mechanism, may beset in different angularly adjusted positions in accordance with theposition of the movable abutment 34 of the heel gage 28.

The back gage 32 has a pair of vertical channels 10 (Fig. 1) forreceiving ilanges 12 of a back gage slidey 14. The back gage 32 isconstantly urged to its raised position, shown `in-Fig. 1, uponVvcarrier slide and may be referred to as the abutment portion of thecarrier slide. Secured by a nut 94 to the carrier slide 86 and extendingdownwardly through an enlarged cylindrical recess 96 of the block 90 isa screw 98 a head |00 of which supports the block, the arrangement beingsuch that the block may be swung about the axis of the pin 92 withinlimits determined by frame.

the screw 98. As will appear later, the block 99 is held in its idleposition, shown in Figs. 1 and 2, by a spring |02 (Fig. 3) a coilportion of which embraces a pin |04 secured to the block, and endportionsof which engage the screw 98 and a depending portion of theblock 90, respectively. The rear face of the block has an arcuate groove|06 which is of V-shaped cross section and has faces |08 shaped andarranged to engage opposed faces |0 of a tapered portion of the spiralstop 68 when, as will appear later, the block 90 is forced rearwardlyagainst the spiral stop.

In order to Vary the distance between the back gage 32 and the block 90,the back gage slide 14 may be secured in different adjusted positions tothe carrier slide 86 through the provision of a pair of pawls ||2 (Figs.1 and 4) which are pivoted upon a pin I4 xed to a bracket I6 secured byscrews |8 (Fig. 1) to the carrier slide 86. The pawls ||2 have heads |20(Fig. 4), respectively, one of which may be inserted in one of aplurality of recesses |22 formed at the under side of the back gageslide 14. The heads |20 of the pawls 2 are constantly forced against theback gage slide 14 by spring-pressed plungers |24 housed in the bracketI6, the arrangement being such that the operator, after swinging thepawls against the action of the spring-pressed plungers |24, mayselectively cause the head of one of the pawls |2 to register with oneof the recesses |22 by moving the back gage slide 'I4 along the guideway84 with relation to the carrier slide 86 to the proper position, thepawls then'being released, thus causing the head of one of said pawls toregister with the proper recess |22.

In order to enable the operator readily to adjust the back gage slide |4in the carrier slide 86 in accordance with the particular type of workbeing operated upon in the machine, the back gage slide has a line |26(Fig. 1) which may be moved into alinement with one of a plurality oflines |28 on the carrier slide, the arrangement being such that when theline |26 is in alinement with one of the lines |28, the operatorreleases the pawls H2, one of which is moved into an opposing recess|22.

In order to centralize the shoe in the machine, there is provided abifurcated centralizing gage |30 which is slidingly mounted in aguideway |32 of the machine frame. The centralizing gage |30 isconstantly urged forwardly by springs |34 (only one of which is shown)which are located in cylindrical recesses of the centralizing gage |30and are backed up by rods |36 the rear ends of which engage an arm |38of the machine Forward movement of the centralizing gage |30 under theaction of the springs |34 is limited by a stud |40 which is secured tothe carrier slide 86 and has its upper end fitting in an elongatedgroove |42 of the centralizing gage |30, forward movement of the carrierslide being limited by the engagement of the bracket ||6 with the arm|38 of the machine frame.

In positioning the shoe in the machine, the operator first forces thecounterportion of the shoe against bfurcated portions |44 of thecentralizing gage |30 which then moves rearwardly. The rear end of theshoe is then brought into engagement with the back gage 32 which,together with the centralizing gage |30, is moved rearwardly until thefaces |08 of the groove |06 formed in the block 90 are forced againstthe faces I of the spiral stop 68, thereby preventing any furtherrearward movement of the shoe. As above described, -the spiral stop 68has already been swung to a predetermined position in accordance withthe length of the heel 26 in the heel gage 28. It will be noted that dueto the action of the spring |02 (Fig. 3) the left portion of the block(as viewed in Fig. 1) first engages the spiral stop, further rearwardpressure eX- erted against the carrier slide 86 then causing the blockto swing about the pin 92', with the result that the faces |08 of theblock throughout their length are brought into registration with theopposed faces ||0, respectively, of the spiral stop.

The spiral stop 68 has a low pitch, thus insuring that said stop shallnot be rotated as the block 90 is forced rearwardly against it.Moreover, the spiral stop 68 is made small, as above stated, in orderthat it shall not interfere with the various operative parts of themachine, it being appreciated that the stop is made as light aspracticable in order that it may be readily rotated in one directionwhen the movable abutment 34 is moved rearward by pressure of the heelagainst it, and may be moved to its gaging position by the spring 56when the heel has been released in the heel gage 28.

As above stated, the tted heel seats of shoes which are to receive thevarious types of heels above referred to, may vary from 3A of an inch to3 inches in length, and it has been found to be undesirable to providethe work positioning mechanism of the machine with a spiral stop havinga throw of sufficient magnitude to accommodate such a wide range ofsizes. By initially securing theback gage '|4 in differentadjustedpositions to the carrier slide 86 and thereby varying the eectivedistances between the block 90 and the back gage 32, the small Spiralstop 68 having a low pitch may be effectively used without having tosecure to the forward end of the back gage extension blocks (not shown),such as described in said Letters Patent No. 2,170,842. It will be notedat this point that for a given type of work the initial setting of theheel gage 28 and the initial setting of the back gage slide 14 upon thecarrier slide 86 shall be such that heel-breast receiving shoulders |46formed upon the attached sole 22 of the shoe 24 are so located that theywill be snugly engaged by the breast of the heel positioned upon theshoe.

In initially setting up the machine for Louis work, for example, theoperator loosens the clamp screw 40 and after placing the Louis heel 26upon the shoe 24 draws a heel breast line (not shown) across the sole ofthe shoe and then places the heel upon the table 36 of the heel gage 28with the breast of the heel in engagement with 75 the bar 38. The backgage slide '|4 is then locked to the carrier slide'86 with the line |26of the back'gage slide in alinement with line |28 arranged opposite theword Regular on the bracket ||6 of the carrier slide. The shoe is nextpresented, heel end rst, to themachine, the

heel-seat portion 20,of the sole of the shoe overlying the crease plate30 and the heel-breast line drawn across the sole being movedv intoalinement with front edges |48 of the crease plate, past which edges acutting edge |50 of a shoulder forming knife |52 moves. Theoperatorthen, by the use of the yoke 48, swings the spiral stop 68 aboutthe pin66 until the faces ||0 of the stop are brought into contact with thefaces |08, respectively, of the block 90, which has been forcedrearwardly by the shoe. While holding the spiral stop in position theoperator turns the adjusting screw 43 vuntil the abutment 34 has beenforced against the rear end of the heel and the breast of the heel hasbeen forced against the bar 38. After the screw 43 has been turned toits nal adjusted position, the clamp screw 40 is set, the arrangementthen being such that the spiral stop 68 is so positioned by the heelthat it will, by reason of its being engaged by the block, preventrearward movement of the shoe in the machine when the heel-breast lineof the sole 22 of the shoe 24 is in alinement with the front edges |48of the crease plate 30. With the above arrangement, it will be clearthat the length of the fitted heel seat of the shoe will be equal to thelength of the attaching face of the measured heel to be attached to theshoe.

In order to set up the machine for operating upon Cuban work, a breastabutment |54 (Figs. 1 and 5), such as disclosed in said Letters PatentNo. 2,170,842, is rotated from its position shown in Fig. 5 in orderthat the breast of a Cuban heel (not shown) to be attached to a shoe,the heel seat of which is to be tted, may engage a curved face |56 ofsaid abutment. As above stated, the bar 38 is swung to its dash lineposition shown in Fig. 1 before turning the breast abutment |54 to anoperative position. The Cuban heel is then placed, breast forward andattaching face down, upon the table 36 of the heel gage, and the shoe ismoved rearwardly against the back gage 32 until a previously markedheelbreast line on the sole of the shoe is in alinement with the frontedges of a crease plate which has previously been placed in the machineand is adapted for use in connectionv with Cuban work. After a few trialadjustments of a screw |58 through the provision of which the breastabutment |54 is moved lengthwise of the heel gage, the curved surface|56 of the abutment |54 is so adjusted that the spiral stop set by theheel in the heel gage will locate the shoe in the machine with itsheel-breast line in alinement with the front edges of the crease plate.The throw of the stop 68 is sufficient to accommodate a full run ofsizes of Louis and Cuban heels. Accordingly, in changing over from Louisto Cuban work, it is unnecessary to adjust the back gage `slide '|4 withrelation to the carrier slide 86.

In initially adjusting the machine for the reception of interlockingwork, the operator follows the samegeneral procedure as above describedin connection with Cuban work. It will be noted, however, that inoperating upon interlocking work the line |26 of the back gage slide 14is in alinement with line |28 on the carrier slide 86 opposite the wordInterlocking As disclosed lin said Letters Patent No. 2,170,842, inVorder to equip the ma'chine for interlocking work, a platform |60 (Fig.5) is placed upon the table 36 with its depending stud |62 fitting in acylindrical recess |64 of the table, the bar 38 of the heel gage ttingin a groove |66 at the underside of y the platform. After the shoe hasbeen positioned in the machine, an interlocking heel |61 is placed uponthe platform |60 with its breast in engagement with abutments |68, whichare adjustably secured by screws |69 in grooves |1| formed in an vupperportion of the platform. The upper portion |10 of the platform |60 isnormally secured to a base portion |12 of the platform by one or morescrew-and-slot connections |14 but may be disconnected therefrom forpurposes of adjustment, the arrangement being suchthat the upper portion|10 of the platform |60 is moved rearwardly with relation to said baseportion |12 until the rear end of the heel, operating through themovable abutment 34 and the mechanism above described, causes the spiralstop to be forced against the block 90 which has been moved to itsrearward operative position by the positioned shoe in the machine. Theabutments |68 on the upper portion |10 of the platform |60 are thenfinally adjusted by trial and error with relation to the fixed lowerportion |12 of the platform until the spiral stop accurately locates theshoe lengthwise in the machine. The screws |14 are finally tightened tosecure the upper and lower portions |10, |12, respectively, of theplatform |60 together.

Platforms which are similar to the platform |60 are provided for use inconnection with short Cuban and long slipper heels, for example, theback gage slide 14 being previously adjusted with relation to thecarrier slide 86, as above described, before effecting the setting upadjustment. It will be readily appreciated from the foregoing that themachine is readily adapted to accommodate the various types of work byreplacing certain parts of the machine for others and without havinginitially to set up the machine each time that the type of work ischanged.

When the machine is equipped for reducing the heel-seat portions of theattached soles of mens slippers, for example, for the reception ofheels, the U-shaped opening of the crease plate used is extremely largeand it has been found desirable to increase the extent of the backwardmovement of a heel-seat reducing knife |16 so that said knife shallstart its cut well rearward of said opening. It will be appreciated thatwhen operating upon the various types of work except interlocking work,in which case the heelseat reducing knife is removed, the forwardm-ovement of the heel-seat reducing knife |16, which is movable along aflat bottom face of the crease plate, ceases when its cutting edge |18reaches the heel-breast line of the sole of the shoe, which line, whenthe shoe is positioned in the machine, extends along the front edges |48of the crease plate. In order to increase the rearward throw of theheel-seat reducing knife |16, a connecting lever |80, similar to acorresponding lever of the machine disclosed in United States LettersPatent No. 2,053,295, has secured to its upper end a housing |82 havinga recess |84 for `receiving a lug |86 of a bell-crank lever |88, similarto a corresponding bell-crank lever of the machine disclosed in saidLetters Patent. The upper end of the bell-crank lever |88 is pivoted toa rod |90 pivoted to a carrier slide |92 which is mounted for forwardand rearward sliding movement along a guideway |94 of the machine frameand has secured to it the heelseat reducing knife |16.

Threaded intoan extension of the housing |82 is a screw |96 an endportion of which is constructed and arranged selectively to t in one oftwo recesses |98, 200 of the lug |86. The recesses |98, 200 are soarranged that when the heel-seat reducing knife |16 is at the forwardend of its stroke with its cutting edge |18 in alinement with theforwardedges |48 of the crease plate, the recesses are centered about the axisof a pivot pin 202 to which the lower end of the connecting lever ispivoted. When the machine is operating upon various types of work exceptmens slipper` work, the screw |96 registers with the recess |98, butwhen the machine is operating upon mens slipper work, the screwregisters with the recess 200, thereby causing the heel-seat reducingknife |16 to be retracted further than in other types of work. Bycausing the recesses |98,20Q to be centered about the axis of the pivotpin 202 when the cutting edge of the heel-seat reducing knife |16 is atthe forward end of its cutting stroke, it will be appreciated that theforward movement of the knife will at all times cease when the cuttingedge |18 of the knife |16 arrives at the forward edges |48 of the creaseplate 30.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A heel-seat fitting machine having, in combination, a stop, ameasuring gage which comprises a movable abutment constructed andarranged to engage one end of a heel and which comprises a fixed butreadily interchangeable abutment constructed and arranged to engage anopposite end of the heel, mechanism for connecting said movable abutmentto the stop to move said stop into different operative positions inaccordance with the position of said movable abutment, a memberconstructed and arranged to be moved into engagement with the stop, aback gage which is adjustable with relation to said 1- member and isconstructed and larranged to be engaged by the rear end of a shoe toposition said shoe lengthwise in the machine, markings for selectivelylocating the back gage in any one of several predetermined positions inaccordance with the particular fixed abutment used in the heel measuringgage, and means comprising a pawl and recess arrangement for securingthe positioned back gage to saidy member, said back gage and said memberbeing movable under pressure of the shoe until said member is movedagainst the stop thereby positioning the shoe lengthwise in the machinein accordance with the length of the heel in the heel measuring gage.

2. A heel-seat fitting machine having, in combination, a spiral stop, ameasuring gage which comprises a movable abutment constructed andarranged to engage one end of a heel and which comprises a fixed butreadily interchangeable abutment constructed and arranged to engage anopposite end of the heel, means for initially positioning said fixed butreadily interchangeable abutment upon said measuring gage in accordancewith the particular type of heel to be measured, a back gage constructedand arranged to be engaged by the rear end of a shoe to position saidshoe lengthwise in the machine, a slide, a block pivoted to the slide,aspring for maintaining the block in a predetermined angular positionwith relation to the slide when the machine is idle, and means forsecuring the back gage in different readily recognizable positions tothe slide to vary the distance between the back gage and the block, saidback gage being movable by pressure of the shoe against it, the blockupon said movement of the back gage being moved into contact withsurface portions of the stop and then being swung relatively to the stopagainst the action of the spring to engage additional surface portionsof the stop thereby positioning the shoe lengthwise in accordance withthe length of the heel in the heel measuring gage.

3. A heel-seat fitting machine having, in combination, a spiral stop, aheel measuring gage comprising a movable abutment operatively connectedto said stop, a back gage constructed and arranged to be engaged by therear end of a shoe, a slide, a block pivotedto the slide, meanscomprising markings for selectively locating the back gage in any one ofseveral predetermined positions with relation to the slide, and meanscomprising a pawl and recess arrangement for securing the positionedback gage to the slide, said back gage being movable by pressure of theshoe against it until said block engages the stop thereby positioningthe shoe lengthwise in the machine in accordance with the position ofthe movable abutment of the heel measuring gage.

4. A heel-seat fitting machine having, in combination, a spiral stop, aheel measuring gage comprising a movable abutment operatively connectedto the stop, a back gage constructed and arranged to be engaged by therear end of a shoe, a slide, a block pivoted to the slide, a spring formaintaining the block in a predetermined angular position with relationto the slide when the machine is idle, and means for securing the backgage in different adjusted positions relative to the slide to vary thedistance between the block and the back gage, said back gage beingmovable by pressure of the shoe against it until said block engages thestop and swings in opposition to the action of the spring against thestop thereby positioning the shoe lengthwise in accordance with theposition of the movable abutment of the heel measuring gage.

WILLIAM S. DALLAS.

